Kirti Azad will move HC to keep Alok Verma out of DDCA scam probe

A day after Delhi Police Commissioner and senior IPS officer Alok Verma was appointed director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), suspended BJP MP Kirti Azad has said that he will approach the High Court to keep the newly appointed CBI chief out of the ongoing investigation in cases related to financial mismanagement in Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA).

The cricketer-turned-politician in a letter addressed to the Delhi Police Commissioner accused him of ‘pushing DDCA’s ugly shenanigans under the carpet’ during his stint with the Delhi Police. Azad wrote, “The misfortune of India is that people like you have gone on to assume the highest offices, the common people expect no justice from institutions which are headed by guys like you.”

The CBI is investigating the cases related to corruption in finances and management of the BCCI-regulated DDCA and is said to be in the final phase of its investigation before FIRs are filed. A CBI inquiry was ordered into the irregularities of the cricketing body during the tenure of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office is also probing the matter.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court is presiding over a defamation suit filed by the DDCA against Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and MP Kirti Azad for defamatory criticism of the body. DDCA recently asked the High Court not to take on record the replies given by the Delhi CM and MP Kirti Azad in the matter as they failed to file them on time.

In his letter to Alok Verma, the MP from Darbhanga said, “My own problem is that there are cases related to DDCA which are being investigated by the CBI and the CBI is seemingly on the verge of filing an FIR against many DDCA officials who have swindled large amounts of money. With you at the helm, it will not be unreasonable to expect you to again stall the investigations, the way that you so skillfully did during your tenure with the Delhi Police (sic.)” He went on to accuse Verma of ‘dilly dallying’ complaints filed by him in the past.

A 1979 batch IPS officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory cadre, Alok Verma’s name was cleared by the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet to head India’s premier investigation agency on Thursday. The committee was headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Verma was the director general of Tihar Jail before he took charge of the Delhi Police in February last year. He will serve for a period of two years as the director of the CBI, taking the reins of the agency from interim director Rakesh Asthana who has been serving as its director following the retirement of Anil Sinha on December 2.